Ah-Ra Ko 2nd extra credit article http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1119/p09s01-coop.html Health care and illegal immigrants in America: why Mexico is the key Mexico City - Few issues have caused as much of a stir this year as the question of whether illegal immigrants will be included in the Democratic healthcare bill. Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst after President Obama stated in September that illegal immigrants wouldn't be covered is just one example of the tension. Eighty percent of Americans are loath to subsidize illegal immigrants according to a June 2009 Rasmussen poll. Amid a wobbly economy, the uncertain – though certainly high – cost of the health care bill contributes to such hostility. But there's something that might help solve part of the problem, satisfying both Democrats and Republicans: a campaign by Mexican officials to improve the state of healthcare in their own country. Mexico's healthcare system is corrupt, unwieldy, and grossly underfunded – and it's costing American taxpayers big-time. Consider this: The Mexican government spends $535 per capita on healthcare, yet American taxpayers fork out more than $1,100 in healthcare for the 12 million-plus illegal aliens in the US – most of whom are Mexicans who are uninsured or on Medicaid illegally. Mexico's poor quality of healthcare is a forgotten factor that drives so many Mexicans across the border. As things stand now, illegal immigrants – like all who show up – cannot be turned away from hospital emergency rooms, for anything from a broken bone to illness and pregnancies. Each year, about 1 in 10 births in this country are to illegal aliens. In general, they receive better quality care than what they could hope to receive back home. Even though lawmakers insist that healthcare reform wouldn't subsidize care for illegals, US taxpayers in practice will contribute to covering the cost of their care. If Mexico had better structure – and Congress can and should encourage such self-help – perhaps the US wouldn't have such a burden on its own system. Instead, Mexican leaders, who often live like princes, prefer to shift the obligation to the US, and America is taking the bait. Inadequate funding isn't the only problem with Mexico's system: It staggers under the poor delivery of services, a venal labor union linked to drug smuggling and selling jobs at public healthcare agencies, and a Balkanization of the government-subsidized providers. In addition to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), which provides health and retirement benefits to 45.8 percent of the population, there are individualized programs for government bureaucrats, oil workers, the two electricity companies, the armed forces, and the extremely poor. The multiple agencies and state-federal overlap of functions accentuate delays, errors, overhead expenses, and corruption. No wonder Mexico falls at the bottom of the 30 OECD states in terms of out-of-pocket outlays on physician and hospital visits. According to the Associated press, "Mexicans will do almost anything to avoid a public hospital emergency room, where ailing patients may languish for hours slumped on cracked linoleum floors that smell of sweat, sickness, and pine-scented disinfectant. Many don't see doctors at all, heading instead to the clerk at the corner pharmacy for advice on coping with a cold or a flu." Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has criticized the lack of general practice physicians, specialists, and nurses, as well as "the insufficiency of beds, medicine, instruments, and medical equipment in general." To make matters worse, administrative costs devour 10.8 percent of the nation's meager health budget – more than twice the level of Medicare in the US. Corrupt union practices compound the problem. The Health Workers' Union has gained one benefit after another since its founding in 1944. Not only do union members boast tenured positions, relative high salaries, free medical care for themselves and their families, generous Christmas bonuses, and additional compensation for arriving at work on time, but their retirement plan is one of the most attractive in the country. The lion's share of the nation's 374,000 union members can retire with pensions in their mid-50s compared with the minimum retirement age of 65 for most other Mexicans. So what can be done? Instead of turning a blind eye to the Mexican government's unwillingness to improve the medical care of its people, the Hispanic Congressional Caucus and other special pleaders for including illegal aliens in healthcare legislation should insist that our southern neighbor launch a root-and-branch reform of how it addresses its own citizens' medical needs. And if the US encouraged Mexico to strive for a better system, the health bill now before the Senate would be relieved of one less roadblock. George W. Grayson teaches government at the College of William & Mary. His latest book is "Mexico: Narco-Violence and a Failed State?" 1. Wobbly: adjective, shaky; unsteady. 2. Capita: Pl, of CAPUT-noun, any head or headlike expansion on a structure, as on a bone. 3. Contribute: verb, to give (money, time, knowledge, assistance, etc.) to a common supply, fund, etc., as for charitable purposes. 4. Obligation: noun, something by which a person is bound or obliged to do certain things, and which arises out of a sense of duty or results from custom, law, etc 5. Inadequate: adjective, not adequate or sufficient; inept or unsuitable. 6. Smuggling: verb, to import or export (goods) secretly, in violation of the law, esp. without payment of legal duty. 7. Balkanize: verb, to divide (a country, territory, etc.) into small, quarrelsome, ineffectual states. 8. Subsidized: verb, to assist or support with a subsidy. 9. Disinfectant: noun, any chemical agent used chiefly on inanimate objects to destroy or inhibit the growth of harmful organisms. 10. Compensation: noun, the act or state of compensating. [compensate: verb, to recompense for something] My own sentences 1. Wobbly: The leg of desk is wobbly. 2. Contribute: I cannot afford to contribute any money because I do not have money. 3. Smuggling: She is trying smuggling a pound of heroin into Korea. 4. Subsidized: You can get some discount of this because it will be subsidized by advertising. 5. Disinfectant: You should clean the sink with Disinfectant.
Global warming projections of a permanent trend towards "El Nino" weather this century may be off base, suggest a historical climate analysis.
In the current journal Science, a team led by Penn State's Michael Mann look at "more than a thousand tree ring, ice core, coral, sediment, and other assorted proxy (climate-indicating) records spanning the ocean and land regions of both hemispheres over the past 1500 years," the study says. The study allowed researchers to reconstruct regional patterns of warming and cooling for example, finding the effects of the "Medieval Climate Anomaly", which lasted from about 950 to 1250 A.D., warmed the European Arctic, Greenland and parts of North America, (but not elsewhere) to almost modern conditions.
The Nobel-Prize-winning 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report has tentatively projected a likelihood of increased El Nino conditions, characterized by floods and warm summers in North America, as global temperatures warm by 2100, under the influence of man-made greenhouse gases. "We found just the opposite occurred before," Mann says. In the historical analysis, periods of warmer global temperatures led towards "La Nina" conditions in the Pacific Ocean, characterized by cooler, drier, conditions in the East Pacific.
The finding matters, if confirmed, because La Nina conditions point to continued long-term drought in the U.S. Southwest. Better modeling of cloud activity, and the chemistry of ozone high in the atmosphere, Mann says, might also clear up disagreement between projections of El Nino condition. On Nov. 5, the U.S. National Weather Service said "El Nino" conditions were strengthening in the Pacific Ocean, and forecast this winter will be roughly 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average nationwide, as a result. NWS will release its next El Nino forecast on Dec. 10. By Dan Vergano Photo: A view of Milluni water reservoir in the Bolivian highlands, some 18.6 miles from La Paz November 7, 2009. The "El Nino" weather phenomenon has brought on a severe drought in Bolivia, putting precarious water supplies to some of the country's major cities further at risk. Reservoirs across the country are at an alarming low levels and many Bolivians are complaining that they do not have access to water. (Monica Machicao, Reuters) Posted at 12:29 PM/ET, December 01, 2009 in Environment and climate | Permalink
1.Sediment: noun, the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid; lees; dregs.
2.Medieval: adjective, of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or in the style of the Middle Ages
3.Anomaly: noun, a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form.
4.El Nino: noun, a warm ocean current of variable intensity that develops after late December along the coast of Ecuador and Peru and sometimes causes catastrophic weather conditions.
5.Tentatively: adjective, of the nature of or made or done as a trial, experiment, or attempt; experimental
6.La Nina: noun, A cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America, occurring periodically every 4 to 12 years and affecting Pacific and other weather patterns.
7.Drought: noun, a period of dry weather, esp. a long one that is injurious to crops. 8.Phenomenon: noun, a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable.
9.Precarious: adjective, dependent on circumstances beyond one's control; uncertain; unstable; insecure 10.Bolivia: noun, a republic in W South America. 7,669,868; 404,388 sq. mi.
My own sentences 1.Sediment: sediment deposits slowly on the river bottom. 2.Medieval: I am studying about medieval history in the class.
3.La Nina: La Nina typically creates rainfalls.
4.Drought: if the drought lasts long, it will definitely affect to crops.
5.Phenomenon: I discovered I phenomenon in the article
.
Listening to music may benefit patients who suffer severe stress and anxiety associated with having and undergoing treatment for coronary heart disease. A Cochrane Systematic Review found that listening to music could decrease blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of anxiety in heart patients.
Living with heart disease is extremely stressful. The uncertainties and anxieties surrounding diagnosis and the various medical procedures involved in treatment can significantly worsen the condition. For example, stress can increase blood pressure, leading to increased risk of complications. Music listening may help to alleviate stress and therefore reduce this risk.
"Our findings suggest music listening may be beneficial for heart disease patients," says Joke Bradt, who works at the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University in Philadelphia. "But the trials we looked at were generally small and varied in terms of styles of music used and length of music sessions. More research on the specifics of music listening is certainly warranted."
The researchers reviewed data from 23 studies, which together included 1,461 patients. Two studies focused on patients treated by trained music therapists, but most did not, using instead interventions where patients listened to pre-recorded music on CDs offered by healthcare professionals.
Listening to music provided some relief for coronary heart disease patients suffering from anxiety, by reducing heart rate and blood pressure. There was also some indication that music listening improved mood, although no improvement was seen for patients suffering from depression due to the disease.
"We all know that music can impact on our emotions, our physiological responses, as well as our outlook on life, and this early research shows that it is well worth finding out more about how it could help heart disease patients. In particular, it would be interesting to learn more about the potential benefits of music offered by trained music therapists, which may be differ substantially from those associated with pre-recorded music," says Bradt.
1.Anxiety: noun, distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune. 2.Coronary: adjective, of or pertaining to the human heart, with respect to health. 3.Uncertainties: noun, an instance of uncertainty, doubt 4.Alleviate: verb, to make easier to endure; lessen; mitigate: to alleviate sorrow; to alleviate pain. 5.Trials: noun, test; proof. 6.Varied: adjective, changed; altered: a varied estimate. 7.Warranted: verb, to give authority to; authorize. 8.Interventions: noun, the act or fact of intervening. 9.Mood: noun, a state or quality of feeling at a particular time. 10.Substantially: adjective, of ample or considerable amount, quantity, size.
1. I was filled with anxiety about my parents’ health. 2. He was depressed by the uncertainty of his life. 3. Listen to the music will help to alleviate the feeling of stress. 4. The trail shows that smoking will cause the cancer. 5. The varied personalities cause him become popular movie star.
Ischaemic heart disease Ischaemic (or ischemic) heart disease is a disease characterized by reduced blood supply to the heart. ----
It is the most common cause of death in most western countries.
Ischaemia means a "reduced blood supply".
The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart muscle and no alternative blood supply exists, so a blockage in the coronary arteries reduces the supply of blood to heart muscle. Most ischaemic heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis, usually present even when the artery lumens appear normal by angiography.
Initially there is sudden severe narrowing or closure of either the large coronary arteries and/or of coronary artery end branches by debris showering downstream in the flowing blood.
It is usually felt as angina, especially if a large area is affected.
The narrowing or closure is predominantly caused by the covering of atheromatous plaques within the wall of the artery rupturing, in turn leading to a heart attack (Heart attacks caused by just artery narrowing are rare).
A heart attack causes damage to heart muscle by cutting off its blood supply.. For more information about the topic Ischaemic heart disease, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles: Coronary heart disease — Coronary heart disease (CHD), also called coronary artery disease (CAD) and atherosclerotic heart disease, is the end result of the accumulation of ... > //read more// Heart valve — In anatomy, the heart valves are valves in the heart that maintain the unidirectional flow of blood by opening and closing depending on the ... > //read more// Blood vessel — The blood vessels are part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body. The most important types, arteries and ... > //read more// Low density lipoprotein — Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) refers to a class and range of lipoprotein particles, varying in their size (18-25 nm in diameter) and contents, which ... > //read more// 1.coronary: noun, designating blood vessels, nerves, ligaments
2.blockage: noun, the act of blocking or state of being blocked
3.atherosclerosis: noun, a degenerative disease of the arteries characterized by patchy thickening of the inner lining of the arterial walls, caused by deposits of fatty material
4.artery: noun, any of the tubular thick-walled muscular vessels that convey oxygenated blood from the heart to various parts of the body
5.lumens: noun, antrum or cavity
6.downstream: adverb, towards the lower part of a stream
7.predominantly: adverb, for the most part; mostly; mainly
8.atheromatous: noun, a mass of yellowish fatty and cellular material that forms in and beneath the inner lining of the arterial walls
9.plaques: noun, a platelike brooch or ornament, esp. one worn as the badge of an honorary order
10.rupturing: noun, breaking or bursting 1.Drinking water can help you to remove the blockage in your body.
2.We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.
3.We were rowing downstream towards the sea.
4.She uses her car predominantly for driving to work. 5.His wound is rupturing.
Forest A forest is an area with a high of trees (or, historically, a wooded area set aside for hunting). ----
These plant communities cover large areas of the globe and function as animal habitats, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the Earth's biosphere.
Although often thought of as as carbon dioxide sinks, mature forests are approximately carbon neutral with only disturbed and young forests acting as carbon sinks.
Nonetheless mature forests do play an important role in the global carbon cycle as stable carbon pools, and clearance of forests leads to an increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels..
For more information about the topic Forest, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles: Savanna — A savanna or savannah is a grassland with widely spaced trees, and occurs in several types of biomes. In savannas, grasses and trees are co-dominant ... > //read more// Old growth forest — Old growth forest, sometimes called late seral forest or ancient forest or primary forest is an area of forest that has attained great age and ... > //read more// Taiga — Taiga is a biome characterized by coniferous forests. Covering most of inland Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Finland, inland Norway, northern Kazakhstan and ... > //read more// Slash and burn — Slash and burn (a specific practice that may be part of shifting cultivation or swidden-fallow agriculture) is an agricultural procedure widely used ... > //read more//
1.density: noun, the degree to which something is filled, crowded, or occupied
2.globe: noun, earth
3.hydrologic: adjective, being of the science dealing with the occurrence, circulation, distribution, and properties of the waters of the earth and its atmosphere
4.modulator: noun, things that modulate
5.conserver: noun, a mixture of several fruits cooked to jamlike consistency with sugar and often garnished with nuts and raisins
6.biosphere: noun, the part of the earth's surface and atmosphere inhabited by living things
7.neutral: adjective, not siding with any party to a dispute or litmusless
8.pool: noun, pond
9.clearance: noun, the process or an instance of clearing 10.atmospheric: adjective, pertaining to, existing in, or consisting of the atmosphere: atmospheric vapors 1.There is plenty of water on the face of the globe. 2.Modulator is very important in a cycle.
3.All animals and plants are in the biosphere.
4.It is a neutral salt
5.The clearence of junk is very important for a company.
_
HASSAN ALYOUSEF
You can see it as you're flying into New Delhi — or rather, you can't see a thing. As the plane descends to the Indian capital on an ordinary November day, it is immersed in air so polluted as to be opaque, a brownish sludge that scatters any sunlight. The air clears a bit once you've deplaned, but the horizon still contracts, pollution closing off the New Delhi sky like a dome.
That soupy brown air is the result of so-called black carbon expelled into the atmosphere in and around the Indian capital, from the burning of biomass for cookstoves and of black coal for electricity, and the incomplete combustion in the old diesel engines that propel most of the cars and trucks in the city. Breathing here isn't all that good for you — there's a reason the city is home to the "Delhi cough" — and now scientists are discovering that the sooty air isn't good for the climate either. According to some estimates, black carbon may be responsible for as much as 18% of the planet's warming, making it the No. 2 contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, which accounts for 40%. "The world could think that we just cut CO2 and the problem is solved and we all go home, but it's not," says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climatologist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and an expert on black carbon. "That's my nightmare." (See the world's most polluted places.)
Black carbon and CO2 each contribute to global warming in different ways. CO2 intensifies the greenhouse effect, allowing sunlight from space to enter through the atmosphere, then trapping the sun's energy as it bounces off the surface of the planet — like a greenhouse. (Of course, without some greenhouse warming, the earth would be a cold, dead place, but too much CO2 accelerates the effect and could make the earth too hot to be habitable. The temperature on Venus, for instance, where the atmosphere is 96% CO2, is over 400°C, or 750°F.) By contrast, black carbon in the air actually absorbs sunlight as it comes from space, directly heating up the atmosphere. "The soot particles are like the parts of a blanket, and it's getting thicker," says Ramanathan. "The smoke absorbs sunlight and heats the blanket directly." (Read "COP15: Climate Change Conference.")
Unlike CO2, which can hang around in the atmosphere for centuries — CO2 that was emitted by the first coal-powered train is probably still in the air, warming the planet — black carbon has a relatively brief life span. It remains just a few weeks in the air before it falls to earth. That's key, because if the world could reduce black carbon emissions soon, it could help blunt warming almost instantly. "You can wait a week or a month and the totals in the atmosphere can be significantly different," says Eric Wilcox, an atmospheric scientist with NASA. Meanwhile, if we were to vastly reduce new CO2 emissions immediately, the billions of tons that already exist in the atmosphere would keep warming the planet for decades.
All of this has particular importance for developing Asian countries, especially India, where a mix of development means that biomass-burning and diesel combustion remains prominent. (In developed countries like the U.S., there's much less burning of biomass and any diesel combustion tends to be much cleaner, as the clearing skies over major U.S. cities demonstrate.) Though India is responsible for less than 3% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to Ramanathan it is responsible for about 6% of global black-carbon emissions, give or take a significant margin of error. India and other developing countries rightly argue that rich nations are responsible for the majority of carbon already in the atmosphere, and should therefore take the lead on cutting emissions, but if black carbon is definitively proven to play a large role in warming, poor nations will still be on the hook. (See pictures of this fragile earth.)
The science is evolving — it's so new that black carbon wasn't even listed as a warming agent in the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — but it cannot be ignored. Black carbon is already having an impact on the ice atop the Himalayas, the massive glaciers that feed the major rivers of Asia when they melt each spring. Thanks to global warming, these glaciers are receding, threatening the long-term water supplies for the region. Ramanathan, Wilcox and an Indian glaciologist Syed Iqbal Hasnain are working to figure out the impact of black carbon on glacial loss. Beyond warming the atmosphere, black carbon can also speed the melting of glaciers by literally turning them black — soot on snow makes the ice heat up faster. "When black carbon falls on the snow, it darkens it," says Ramanathan. "If the snow is white, it reflects 80% of the sunshine, but with black carbon it absorbs the sunlight."
The good news is that while taking CO2 out of our energy cycle has proven very difficult — especially in poorer developing nations — black-carbon emissions should be easier to curb. Reducing deforestation will help — the burning of tropical rain forests is a big contributor to the black-carbon load. Next, diesel filters in cars can be upgraded, and biomass-burning stoves can be exchanged for technology that uses solar power or natural gas. These changes will cost money, but they should be cheaper than decarbonization. And cutting back on black carbon will also pay immediate health dividends, with less air pollution and fewer deaths from respiratory diseases. We might even be able to see the sky in New Delhi again
1-Descend (varb): move or fall downward. EX: The plane will descend after one hour.
2-opaque(adjective): not able to be seen through; EX: not transparent. my glasses are opaque, so I can not see.
3-Atmosphere(noun): the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet.
4-Nightmare: a frightening or unpleasant dream. EX: after I watch a 2012 move, I had a nightmare.
5-contribute: give (something, esp. money)(varb): EX: He contributed more than half of his money to the local charity.
6-Accelerate(verb): increase in amount or extent.
7-Habitable(adjective):suitable or good enough to live in. EX: If people do not stop pollute the earth, defiantly, it will not be habitable.
8-Absorb(verb): take in or soak up (energy, or a liquid or other substance) by chemical or physical action.EX: our home can absorb the heat.
9-Remain(noun): continue to exist, esp. after other similar or related people or things have ceased to exist.
10-Decades: a period of ten years.
11-Emission(noun): the production and discharge of something, esp. gas or radiation.
THE SECOND ARTICLE:
In the United States, racialsegregation was widespread in the South. Both public and private areas were divided or established separately for whites and those of colored skin. The sharing or use of certain restrooms, water fountains, restaurants, lunch counters, swimming pools, hospitals, etc. was either restricted or forbidden to African Americans. Blacks could not even take oaths on the same Bibles.
As a peaceful form of protest, black and white students and others sat at lunch counters that were segregated. They refused to leave until they were served. Often, they were not served, but arrested and taken away to jail. The first such protest took place in a Woolworth's store in early 1960 in Greensboro, South Carolina. Four black students waited for an hour, but they were never served. Their protest was used as an example in nine other states across the U.S., and many lunch counters began to give-in.
Martin Luther King, Jr. also joined in this form of nonviolent protest, but when he tried, he was arrested. It was discovered that he had not paid a parking ticket. He was unfairly sent to a prison camp called Reidsville State Prison in Georgia. At that time, presidential candidate and then-Senator John F. Kennedy urged the judge that had decided King's case to release the civil rights leader. King was set free, and this helped Kennedy immensely. Kennedy would go on to win 2/3 of the African-American vote and become President of the U.S.
racial(adjective) : arising, occurring, or existing because of differences between races or racial attitudes. segregation:(noun) the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart.
private(adjective): belonging to or for the use of one particular person or group of people only.
establish(verb): set up.
restricted(adjective):limited to or admitting only members of a particular group or class.
forbidden(adjective):not allowed; prohibited.
oaths(noun): a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person or thing, to witness one's determination to speak the truth, to keep a promise, etc
protest(noun) : an expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid
nonviolent(adjective): peacefully resistant.
candidate(noun): a person who applies for a job or is nominated for election.
1- My sister works in privet school.
2- In Saudi Arabia, there is asegregation between men and women in school.
3- Saudi Arabia was established in 1902.
4- Driving over 70 in highway is forbidden.
5- MSU has restricted roles.
Ah-Ra Ko
2nd extra credit article
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1119/p09s01-coop.html
Health care and illegal immigrants in America: why Mexico is the key
Mexico City - Few issues have caused as much of a stir this year as the question of whether illegal immigrants will be included in the Democratic healthcare bill.
Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst after President Obama stated in September that illegal immigrants wouldn't be covered is just one example of the tension. Eighty percent of Americans are loath to subsidize illegal immigrants according to a June 2009 Rasmussen poll. Amid a wobbly economy, the uncertain – though certainly high – cost of the health care bill contributes to such hostility.
But there's something that might help solve part of the problem, satisfying both Democrats and Republicans: a campaign by Mexican officials to improve the state of healthcare in their own country.
Mexico's healthcare system is corrupt, unwieldy, and grossly underfunded – and it's costing American taxpayers big-time. Consider this: The Mexican government spends $535 per capita on healthcare, yet American taxpayers fork out more than $1,100 in healthcare for the 12 million-plus illegal aliens in the US – most of whom are Mexicans who are uninsured or on Medicaid illegally.
Mexico's poor quality of healthcare is a forgotten factor that drives so many Mexicans across the border. As things stand now, illegal immigrants – like all who show up – cannot be turned away from hospital emergency rooms, for anything from a broken bone to illness and pregnancies. Each year, about 1 in 10 births in this country are to illegal aliens.
In general, they receive better quality care than what they could hope to receive back home. Even though lawmakers insist that healthcare reform wouldn't subsidize care for illegals, US taxpayers in practice will contribute to covering the cost of their care. If Mexico had better structure – and Congress can and should encourage such self-help – perhaps the US wouldn't have such a burden on its own system. Instead, Mexican leaders, who often live like princes, prefer to shift the obligation to the US, and America is taking the bait.
Inadequate funding isn't the only problem with Mexico's system: It staggers under the poor delivery of services, a venal labor union linked to drug smuggling and selling jobs at public healthcare agencies, and a Balkanization of the government-subsidized providers.
In addition to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), which provides health and retirement benefits to 45.8 percent of the population, there are individualized programs for government bureaucrats, oil workers, the two electricity companies, the armed forces, and the extremely poor.
The multiple agencies and state-federal overlap of functions accentuate delays, errors, overhead expenses, and corruption. No wonder Mexico falls at the bottom of the 30 OECD states in terms of out-of-pocket outlays on physician and hospital visits.
According to the Associated press, "Mexicans will do almost anything to avoid a public hospital emergency room, where ailing patients may languish for hours slumped on cracked linoleum floors that smell of sweat, sickness, and pine-scented disinfectant. Many don't see doctors at all, heading instead to the clerk at the corner pharmacy for advice on coping with a cold or a flu."
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has criticized the lack of general practice physicians, specialists, and nurses, as well as "the insufficiency of beds, medicine, instruments, and medical equipment in general." To make matters worse, administrative costs devour 10.8 percent of the nation's meager health budget – more than twice the level of Medicare in the US.
Corrupt union practices compound the problem.
The Health Workers' Union has gained one benefit after another since its founding in 1944. Not only do union members boast tenured positions, relative high salaries, free medical care for themselves and their families, generous Christmas bonuses, and additional compensation for arriving at work on time, but their retirement plan is one of the most attractive in the country. The lion's share of the nation's 374,000 union members can retire with pensions in their mid-50s compared with the minimum retirement age of 65 for most other Mexicans.
So what can be done? Instead of turning a blind eye to the Mexican government's unwillingness to improve the medical care of its people, the Hispanic Congressional Caucus and other special pleaders for including illegal aliens in healthcare legislation should insist that our southern neighbor launch a root-and-branch reform of how it addresses its own citizens' medical needs.
And if the US encouraged Mexico to strive for a better system, the health bill now before the Senate would be relieved of one less roadblock.
George W. Grayson teaches government at the College of William & Mary. His latest book is "Mexico: Narco-Violence and a Failed State?"
1. Wobbly: adjective, shaky; unsteady.
2. Capita: Pl, of CAPUT-noun, any head or headlike expansion on a structure, as on a bone.
3. Contribute: verb, to give (money, time, knowledge, assistance, etc.) to a common supply, fund, etc., as for charitable purposes.
4. Obligation: noun, something by which a person is bound or obliged to do certain things, and which arises out of a sense of duty or results from custom, law, etc
5. Inadequate: adjective, not adequate or sufficient; inept or unsuitable.
6. Smuggling: verb, to import or export (goods) secretly, in violation of the law, esp. without payment of legal duty.
7. Balkanize: verb, to divide (a country, territory, etc.) into small, quarrelsome, ineffectual states.
8. Subsidized: verb, to assist or support with a subsidy.
9. Disinfectant: noun, any chemical agent used chiefly on inanimate objects to destroy or inhibit the growth of harmful organisms.
10. Compensation: noun, the act or state of compensating. [compensate: verb, to recompense for something]
My own sentences
1. Wobbly: The leg of desk is wobbly.
2. Contribute: I cannot afford to contribute any money because I do not have money.
3. Smuggling: She is trying smuggling a pound of heroin into Korea.
4. Subsidized: You can get some discount of this because it will be subsidized by advertising.
5. Disinfectant: You should clean the sink with Disinfectant.
Ah-Ra Ko
1st extra credit article
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefair/2009/12/global-warming-may-not-lead-to-el-nino.html
Global warming may not lead to "El Nino"
Global warming projections of a permanent trend towards "El Nino" weather this century may be off base, suggest a historical climate analysis.
In the current journal Science, a team led by Penn State's Michael Mann look at "more than a thousand tree ring, ice core, coral, sediment, and other assorted proxy (climate-indicating) records spanning the ocean and land regions of both hemispheres over the past 1500 years," the study says. The study allowed researchers to reconstruct regional patterns of warming and cooling for example, finding the effects of the "Medieval Climate Anomaly", which lasted from about 950 to 1250 A.D., warmed the European Arctic, Greenland and parts of North America, (but not elsewhere) to almost modern conditions.
The Nobel-Prize-winning 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report has tentatively projected a likelihood of increased El Nino conditions, characterized by floods and warm summers in North America, as global temperatures warm by 2100, under the influence of man-made greenhouse gases. "We found just the opposite occurred before," Mann says. In the historical analysis, periods of warmer global temperatures led towards "La Nina" conditions in the Pacific Ocean, characterized by cooler, drier, conditions in the East Pacific.
The finding matters, if confirmed, because La Nina conditions point to continued long-term drought in the U.S. Southwest. Better modeling of cloud activity, and the chemistry of ozone high in the atmosphere, Mann says, might also clear up disagreement between projections of El Nino condition. On Nov. 5, the U.S. National Weather Service said "El Nino" conditions were strengthening in the Pacific Ocean, and forecast this winter will be roughly 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average nationwide, as a result. NWS will release its next El Nino forecast on Dec. 10.
By Dan Vergano
Photo: A view of Milluni water reservoir in the Bolivian highlands, some 18.6 miles from La Paz November 7, 2009. The "El Nino" weather phenomenon has brought on a severe drought in Bolivia, putting precarious water supplies to some of the country's major cities further at risk. Reservoirs across the country are at an alarming low levels and many Bolivians are complaining that they do not have access to water. (Monica Machicao, Reuters)
Posted at 12:29 PM/ET, December 01, 2009 in Environment and climate | Permalink
1.Sediment: noun, the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid; lees; dregs.
2.Medieval: adjective, of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or in the style of the Middle Ages
3.Anomaly: noun, a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form.
4.El Nino: noun, a warm ocean current of variable intensity that develops after late December along the coast of Ecuador and Peru and sometimes causes catastrophic weather conditions.
5.Tentatively: adjective, of the nature of or made or done as a trial, experiment, or attempt; experimental
6.La Nina: noun, A cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America, occurring periodically every 4 to 12 years and affecting Pacific and other weather patterns.
7.Drought: noun, a period of dry weather, esp. a long one that is injurious to crops.
8.Phenomenon: noun, a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable.
9.Precarious: adjective, dependent on circumstances beyond one's control; uncertain; unstable; insecure
10.Bolivia: noun, a republic in W South America. 7,669,868; 404,388 sq. mi.
My own sentences
1.Sediment: sediment deposits slowly on the river bottom.
2.Medieval: I am studying about medieval history in the class.
3.La Nina: La Nina typically creates rainfalls.
4.Drought: if the drought lasts long, it will definitely affect to crops.
5.Phenomenon: I discovered I phenomenon in the article
.
Tony Chen Dec. 02 Article 2
Music Reduces Stress In Heart Disease Patients
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090409104303.htmBy: Science Daily Apr. 16, 2009
Listening to music may benefit patients who suffer severe stress and anxiety associated with having and undergoing treatment for coronary heart disease. A Cochrane Systematic Review found that listening to music could decrease blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of anxiety in heart patients.
Living with heart disease is extremely stressful. The uncertainties and anxieties surrounding diagnosis and the various medical procedures involved in treatment can significantly worsen the condition. For example, stress can increase blood pressure, leading to increased risk of complications. Music listening may help to alleviate stress and therefore reduce this risk.
"Our findings suggest music listening may be beneficial for heart disease patients," says Joke Bradt, who works at the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University in Philadelphia. "But the trials we looked at were generally small and varied in terms of styles of music used and length of music sessions. More research on the specifics of music listening is certainly warranted."
The researchers reviewed data from 23 studies, which together included 1,461 patients. Two studies focused on patients treated by trained music therapists, but most did not, using instead interventions where patients listened to pre-recorded music on CDs offered by healthcare professionals.
Listening to music provided some relief for coronary heart disease patients suffering from anxiety, by reducing heart rate and blood pressure. There was also some indication that music listening improved mood, although no improvement was seen for patients suffering from depression due to the disease.
"We all know that music can impact on our emotions, our physiological responses, as well as our outlook on life, and this early research shows that it is well worth finding out more about how it could help heart disease patients. In particular, it would be interesting to learn more about the potential benefits of music offered by trained music therapists, which may be differ substantially from those associated with pre-recorded music," says Bradt.
1. Anxiety: noun, distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.
2. Coronary: adjective, of or pertaining to the human heart, with respect to health.
3. Uncertainties: noun, an instance of uncertainty, doubt
4. Alleviate: verb, to make easier to endure; lessen; mitigate: to alleviate sorrow; to alleviate pain.
5. Trials: noun, test; proof.
6. Varied: adjective, changed; altered: a varied estimate.
7. Warranted: verb, to give authority to; authorize.
8. Interventions: noun, the act or fact of intervening.
9. Mood: noun, a state or quality of feeling at a particular time.
10. Substantially: adjective, of ample or considerable amount, quantity, size.
1. I was filled with anxiety about my parents’ health.
2. He was depressed by the uncertainty of his life.
3. Listen to the music will help to alleviate the feeling of stress.
4. The trail shows that smoking will cause the cancer.
5. The varied personalities cause him become popular movie star.
Li luosi：
1
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/i/ischaemic_heart_disease.htm
Ischaemic heart disease
Ischaemic (or ischemic) heart disease is a disease characterized by reduced blood supply to the heart.
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It is the most common cause of death in most western countries.
Ischaemia means a "reduced blood supply".
The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart muscle and no alternative blood supply exists, so a blockage in the coronary arteries reduces the supply of blood to heart muscle. Most ischaemic heart disease is caused by atherosclerosis, usually present even when the artery lumens appear normal by angiography.
Initially there is sudden severe narrowing or closure of either the large coronary arteries and/or of coronary artery end branches by debris showering downstream in the flowing blood.
It is usually felt as angina, especially if a large area is affected.
The narrowing or closure is predominantly caused by the covering of atheromatous plaques within the wall of the artery rupturing, in turn leading to a heart attack (Heart attacks caused by just artery narrowing are rare).
A heart attack causes damage to heart muscle by cutting off its blood supply..
For more information about the topic Ischaemic heart disease, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Coronary heart disease — Coronary heart disease (CHD), also called coronary artery disease (CAD) and atherosclerotic heart disease, is the end result of the accumulation of ... > //read more//
Heart valve — In anatomy, the heart valves are valves in the heart that maintain the unidirectional flow of blood by opening and closing depending on the ... > //read more//
Blood vessel — The blood vessels are part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body. The most important types, arteries and ... > //read more//
Low density lipoprotein — Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) refers to a class and range of lipoprotein particles, varying in their size (18-25 nm in diameter) and contents, which ... > //read more//
1. coronary: noun, designating blood vessels, nerves, ligaments
2. blockage: noun, the act of blocking or state of being blocked
3. atherosclerosis: noun, a degenerative disease of the arteries characterized by patchy thickening of the inner lining of the arterial walls, caused by deposits of fatty material
4. artery: noun, any of the tubular thick-walled muscular vessels that convey oxygenated blood from the heart to various parts of the body
5. lumens: noun, antrum or cavity
6. downstream: adverb, towards the lower part of a stream
7. predominantly: adverb, for the most part; mostly; mainly
8. atheromatous: noun, a mass of yellowish fatty and cellular material that forms in and beneath the inner lining of the arterial walls
9. plaques: noun, a platelike brooch or ornament, esp. one worn as the badge of an honorary order
10. rupturing: noun, breaking or bursting
1. Drinking water can help you to remove the blockage in your body.
2. We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.
3. We were rowing downstream towards the sea.
4. She uses her car predominantly for driving to work.
5. His wound is rupturing.
2
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/f/forest.htm
Forest
A forest is an area with a high of trees (or, historically, a wooded area set aside for hunting).
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These plant communities cover large areas of the globe and function as animal habitats, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the Earth's biosphere.
Although often thought of as as carbon dioxide sinks, mature forests are approximately carbon neutral with only disturbed and young forests acting as carbon sinks.
Nonetheless mature forests do play an important role in the global carbon cycle as stable carbon pools, and clearance of forests leads to an increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels..
For more information about the topic Forest, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Savanna — A savanna or savannah is a grassland with widely spaced trees, and occurs in several types of biomes. In savannas, grasses and trees are co-dominant ... > //read more//
Old growth forest — Old growth forest, sometimes called late seral forest or ancient forest or primary forest is an area of forest that has attained great age and ... > //read more//
Taiga — Taiga is a biome characterized by coniferous forests. Covering most of inland Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Finland, inland Norway, northern Kazakhstan and ... > //read more//
Slash and burn — Slash and burn (a specific practice that may be part of shifting cultivation or swidden-fallow agriculture) is an agricultural procedure widely used ... > //read more//
1. density: noun, the degree to which something is filled, crowded, or occupied
2. globe: noun, earth
3. hydrologic: adjective, being of the science dealing with the occurrence, circulation, distribution, and properties of the waters of the earth and its atmosphere
4. modulator: noun, things that modulate
5. conserver: noun, a mixture of several fruits cooked to jamlike consistency with sugar and often garnished with nuts and raisins
6. biosphere: noun, the part of the earth's surface and atmosphere inhabited by living things
7. neutral: adjective, not siding with any party to a dispute or litmusless
8. pool: noun, pond
9. clearance: noun, the process or an instance of clearing
10. atmospheric: adjective, pertaining to, existing in, or consisting of the atmosphere: atmospheric vapors
1. There is plenty of water on the face of the globe.
2. Modulator is very important in a cycle.
3. All animals and plants are in the biosphere.
4. It is a neutral salt
5. The clearence of junk is very important for a company.
_
HASSAN ALYOUSEF
You can see it as you're flying into New Delhi — or rather, you can't see a thing. As the plane descends to the Indian capital on an ordinary November day, it is immersed in air so polluted as to be opaque, a brownish sludge that scatters any sunlight. The air clears a bit once you've deplaned, but the horizon still contracts, pollution closing off the New Delhi sky like a dome.
That soupy brown air is the result of so-called black carbon expelled into the atmosphere in and around the Indian capital, from the burning of biomass for cookstoves and of black coal for electricity, and the incomplete combustion in the old diesel engines that propel most of the cars and trucks in the city. Breathing here isn't all that good for you — there's a reason the city is home to the "Delhi cough" — and now scientists are discovering that the sooty air isn't good for the climate either. According to some estimates, black carbon may be responsible for as much as 18% of the planet's warming, making it the No. 2 contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, which accounts for 40%. "The world could think that we just cut CO2 and the problem is solved and we all go home, but it's not," says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climatologist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and an expert on black carbon. "That's my nightmare."
(See the world's most polluted places.)
Black carbon and CO2 each contribute to global warming in different ways. CO2 intensifies the greenhouse effect, allowing sunlight from space to enter through the atmosphere, then trapping the sun's energy as it bounces off the surface of the planet — like a greenhouse. (Of course, without some greenhouse warming, the earth would be a cold, dead place, but too much CO2 accelerates the effect and could make the earth too hot to be habitable. The temperature on Venus, for instance, where the atmosphere is 96% CO2, is over 400°C, or 750°F.) By contrast, black carbon in the air actually absorbs sunlight as it comes from space, directly heating up the atmosphere. "The soot particles are like the parts of a blanket, and it's getting thicker," says Ramanathan. "The smoke absorbs sunlight and heats the blanket directly."
(Read "COP15: Climate Change Conference.")
Unlike CO2, which can hang around in the atmosphere for centuries — CO2 that was emitted by the first coal-powered train is probably still in the air, warming the planet — black carbon has a relatively brief life span. It remains just a few weeks in the air before it falls to earth. That's key, because if the world could reduce black carbon emissions soon, it could help blunt warming almost instantly. "You can wait a week or a month and the totals in the atmosphere can be significantly different," says Eric Wilcox, an atmospheric scientist with NASA. Meanwhile, if we were to vastly reduce new CO2 emissions immediately, the billions of tons that already exist in the atmosphere would keep warming the planet for decades.
All of this has particular importance for developing Asian countries, especially India, where a mix of development means that biomass-burning and diesel combustion remains prominent. (In developed countries like the U.S., there's much less burning of biomass and any diesel combustion tends to be much cleaner, as the clearing skies over major U.S. cities demonstrate.) Though India is responsible for less than 3% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to Ramanathan it is responsible for about 6% of global black-carbon emissions, give or take a significant margin of error. India and other developing countries rightly argue that rich nations are responsible for the majority of carbon already in the atmosphere, and should therefore take the lead on cutting emissions, but if black carbon is definitively proven to play a large role in warming, poor nations will still be on the hook.
(See pictures of this fragile earth.)
The science is evolving — it's so new that black carbon wasn't even listed as a warming agent in the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — but it cannot be ignored. Black carbon is already having an impact on the ice atop the Himalayas, the massive glaciers that feed the major rivers of Asia when they melt each spring. Thanks to global warming, these glaciers are receding, threatening the long-term water supplies for the region. Ramanathan, Wilcox and an Indian glaciologist Syed Iqbal Hasnain are working to figure out the impact of black carbon on glacial loss. Beyond warming the atmosphere, black carbon can also speed the melting of glaciers by literally turning them black — soot on snow makes the ice heat up faster. "When black carbon falls on the snow, it darkens it," says Ramanathan. "If the snow is white, it reflects 80% of the sunshine, but with black carbon it absorbs the sunlight."
The good news is that while taking CO2 out of our energy cycle has proven very difficult — especially in poorer developing nations — black-carbon emissions should be easier to curb. Reducing deforestation will help — the burning of tropical rain forests is a big contributor to the black-carbon load. Next, diesel filters in cars can be upgraded, and biomass-burning stoves can be exchanged for technology that uses solar power or natural gas. These changes will cost money, but they should be cheaper than decarbonization. And cutting back on black carbon will also pay immediate health dividends, with less air pollution and fewer deaths from respiratory diseases. We might even be able to see the sky in New Delhi again
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1938379,00.html#ixzz0XinJzJSc
1-Descend (varb): move or fall downward. EX: The plane will descend after one hour.
2-opaque(adjective): not able to be seen through; EX: not transparent. my glasses are opaque, so I can not see.
3-Atmosphere(noun): the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet.
4-Nightmare: a frightening or unpleasant dream. EX: after I watch a 2012 move, I had a nightmare.
5-contribute: give (something, esp. money)(varb): EX: He contributed more than half of his money to the local charity.
6-Accelerate(verb): increase in amount or extent.
7-Habitable(adjective):suitable or good enough to live in. EX: If people do not stop pollute the earth, defiantly, it will not be habitable.
8-Absorb(verb): take in or soak up (energy, or a liquid or other substance) by chemical or physical action.EX: our home can absorb the heat.
9-Remain(noun): continue to exist, esp. after other similar or related people or things have ceased to exist.
10-Decades: a period of ten years.
11-Emission(noun): the production and discharge of something, esp. gas or radiation.
THE SECOND ARTICLE:
As a peaceful form of protest, black and white students and others sat at lunch counters that were segregated. They refused to leave until they were served. Often, they were not served, but arrested and taken away to jail. The first such protest took place in a Woolworth's store in early 1960 in Greensboro, South Carolina. Four black students waited for an hour, but they were never served. Their protest was used as an example in nine other states across the U.S., and many lunch counters began to give-in.
Martin Luther King, Jr. also joined in this form of nonviolent protest, but when he tried, he was arrested. It was discovered that he had not paid a parking ticket. He was unfairly sent to a prison camp called Reidsville State Prison in Georgia. At that time, presidential candidate and then-Senator John F. Kennedy urged the judge that had decided King's case to release the civil rights leader. King was set free, and this helped Kennedy immensely. Kennedy would go on to win 2/3 of the African-American vote and become President of the U.S.
segregation:(noun) the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart.
private(adjective): belonging to or for the use of one particular person or group of people only.
establish(verb): set up.
restricted(adjective):limited to or admitting only members of a particular group or class.
forbidden(adjective):not allowed; prohibited.
oaths(noun): a solemn appeal to a deity, or to some revered person or thing, to witness one's determination to speak the truth, to keep a promise, etc
protest(noun) : an expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid
nonviolent(adjective): peacefully resistant.
candidate(noun): a person who applies for a job or is nominated for election.
1- My sister works in privet school.
2- In Saudi Arabia, there is asegregation between men and women in school.
3- Saudi Arabia was established in 1902.
4- Driving over 70 in highway is forbidden.
5- MSU has restricted roles.